Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an installation for carrying persons down from a higher station (a mountain station) to a lower station (a valley station). The installation has a guide rail along which carriages designed with a chair, a cabin, or the like can be displaced.
A system of that type is described in my earlier specification application Ser. No. 09/488,741, published as European application EP 1 026 061 A2. There, the guide rail comprises a multiplicity of sub-rails which are connected rigidly to one another and are fastened on a supporting cable by means of brackets. Since, in the case of a rigid guide rail, those locations at which the carriages are located are subjected to very high loading in each case, the sub-rails and the connections thereof have to be of very large dimensions. In addition, such rails are also subjected to high levels of stress, and resulting loading, on account of the heat expansion.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide an installation for moving persons from a higher station to a lower station, which overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages of the heretofore-known devices and methods of this general type and which provides for a design that reduces the loading to which the guide rail is subjected, for which reason the guide rail may be of smaller dimensions.
With the foregoing and other objects in view there is provided, in accordance with the invention, an installation for carrying persons from a higher station towards a lower station, comprising:
a guide rail formed of a plurality of individual sections connected to one another in an articulated and non-displaceable manner;
a plurality of supports carrying the guide rail at a distance above ground;
a link member fastening the guide rail to at least one of the supports and being pivotally mounted about a substantially vertical axis.
In other words, the objects of the invention are achieved, according to the invention, in that the individual sections of the guide rail are connected to one another in an articulated and translatory non-displaceable manner, and in that the guide rail is fastened on at least some of the supports or the like in each case by means of a link which can be pivoted about a more or less vertical axis.
It is preferable, in the region of curves of the guide rail, for two links arranged on supports located one beside the other to be connected to one another by means of a tie bar.
In accordance with a concomitant feature of the invention, these supports or the like are designed with at least more or less horizontally projecting load-bearing members, on which the links are mounted at their radially outer end, and the guide rail is fastened at that end of the link projecting towards the support.
Other features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in the appended claims.
Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in an installation for carrying persons down from a mountain station into a valley station, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.
The construction and method of operation of the invention, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.